Conservative group represents Gordon College in appeal to Supreme Court

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Aug. 4—WENHAM — Gordon College has enlisted a conservative legal advocacy group, with a history of persuading the Supreme Court that the rights of Christians are endangered, to represent the school in its appeal of a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision.

The school is challenging a decision earlier this year by the state's highest court finding that while Gordon College is an explicitly Christian school, former social work associate professor Margaret DeWeese-Boyd was not a "ministerial" employee and thus still protected by employment laws that allowed her to sue the school after she was denied a promotion.

DeWeese-Boyd, who had the recommendation of the school's faculty senate, alleges in a 2017 lawsuit she was denied the promotion over her public disagreement with then-president Michael Lindsay's request to the Obama Administration for an exemption to federal rules barring discrimination against LGBTQ individuals by entities receiving federal funding.

The school contends that the denial of her promotion was based on concerns about her performance, but also maintains that the school should be shielded under the First Amendment from governmental scrutiny of hiring and other employment decisions involving religious educators.

The entrance of the nationally-known organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, was made known on Monday when the group put out a press release framing the issue as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court allowing "government to dictate who can teach the college's faith."

A petition for Supreme Court review of the Massachusetts SJC decision was filed on Monday by Kristen Waggoner and John Bursch. Both lawyers are with the Alliance Defending Freedom, where Waggoner is general counsel and Bursch is senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy.

The press release highlights the school's missionary training roots, and says the college requires faculty and students to "sign a statement of faith and agree to abide by biblical standards of living."

The school says professors are required to "integrate" Christian teachings into all academic areas.

It also contends that DeWeese-Boyd did not accept those teachings, characterizing them as "significant religious beliefs in the college's covenantal documents," though that was not an issue raised in the letter from Provost Janel Curry denying DeWeese-Boyd's promotion in 2016 and the release does not state specifically which teachings were at issue.

The petition filed on Monday contends that the Massachusetts SJC "misunderstands the importance of the integration of religious faith with academic disciplines, exacerbates a split of authority, and presents two questions for review: Whether professors at religious colleges perform ministerial functions when the college exists to spread its faith, and the college requires faculty, as a primary component of their position, to integrate Christian doctrine into their work and academic disciplines, engage in teaching and scholarship from a decidedly religious perspective, and serve as advisors and mentors for student spiritual formation, and (W)hether the First Amendment requires courts to defer to the good-faith characterization of a ministerial position by a religious organization or church."

Gordon College spokesman Rick Sweeney, in response to an email asking how the college chose the organization to represent it in the appeal, said the school is directing requests for comment to the organization.

The organization did not respond to an emailed request for comment on how it came to be involved in the Gordon case by Tuesday's Salem News deadline.

Lindsay left the school to take over at Taylor University in Indiana earlier this year.

His tenure was marked by controversy over the Obama letter and the school's position on LGBTQ issues. In the wake of the letter, a philosophy professor, Lauren Barthold, wrote a letter to the editor of The Salem News critical of Lindsay's position. With the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union, she sued, alleging that the school threatened her with termination and removed her from leadership positions at the school. The school later reached a settlement in that case.

After DeWeese-Boyd was denied the promotion, the entire faculty senate of the school resigned in protest.

The Alliance Defending Freedom has come under criticism from LGBTQ advocates and the Southern Poverty Law Center for its active role in challenging laws granting LGBTQ rights in past cases.

The organization, in a response on its website, specifically accuses the SPLC of a "smear" campaign and says it simply defends the rights of those who share its "biblically-based views on marriage, human sexuality, and sanctity of life."

Waggoner previously represented the owner of a Colorado bakery who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple and convinced the Supreme Court that he'd been treated unfairly by state officials; more recently the organization has won before the court while representing an organization of "pregnancy crisis centers" in a challenge to a California law requiring them to provide information on access to abortions and other services, and also prevailed in a free speech case involving the ability to seek damages for a Georgia student who was stopped from distributing religious leaflets on a college campus.

A hearing is scheduled for later this month on a request by the school's attorneys to grant another delay in the start of depositions and other discovery while the school waits for a decision as to whether the Supreme Court will hear the case.

DeWeese-Boyd and her attorney, HIllary Schwab, have filed an opposition to that request, citing the already lengthy delay in the case, first filed in 2017, while Gordon challenged the issue of whether DeWeese-Boyd was considered a "ministerial" employee.

Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis.